Skatefitting service step 2

Blade/frame set-up

All the different speedskating disciplines are balancing acts, on a 1.1mm blade or on rounded wheels.
To be “balanced”, the weight has to be evenly distributed on both sides.of the blade or wheels. When using a pressure plate to determine your footprint, esspecially the weight distribution, it’s clear that the average of all force on the plate runs from the heel to the second toe.
So the blade should be set-up exactly under the red line(see pressure capture pictures), so the body weight is evenly distributed on the inside and outside of the blade. This way you are in perfect balance.

Fine tuning back to front

Now it’s time to consider the right technique, esspecially the basic position, ankle in “closed packed position”, so the angle between shinbone and the foot should be as small as possible so the the ankle is fixed. This is free stability actually, you only need to get used to this position. Also you want to get on the ball of the foot for getting the perfect feeling to shoe, blade and ice.

For some it’s very difficult to find the right balance back to front and to stay or get on the ball of the foot. So to improve this feeling of control, we can use washers between shoe and blade to adjust the hight of the heel. This might be up to +10mm. We use 2 or 3 mm washers.

Fine tuning side-to-side